< p>In recent weeks, the problem of passing the Annual Technical Inspection (ATP) of the car because of “more“ exhaust emissions caused a great deal of discussion and public reaction. What changes are brewing… Angel Slavchev, MP from "Vazrazhdane" spoke to FAKTI.
- Mr. Slavchev, party “Vazrazhdane“ continues to actively push for a solution to the problem of around 2 million cars that are threatened to be left without GTP due to the new requirements in a regulation that came into force from July 2024. What's next, what do you want to change?
- I became familiar with the topic during the election campaign in June this year. At two of our open meetings, people asked what we were going to do to keep cars from stopping. On the very first day after the swearing in of the National Assembly, I requested a meeting with the acting Minister of Transport. We held a meeting with his deputy, at which it became clear that in 2018 the Ministry of Environment and Water requested the Ministry of Transport to include in Art. 37 paragraph 4 of the Ordinance on annual technical reviews, namely – where the dangerous malfunctions are described, exhaust gases should also be included. After several meetings with the Minister of the Environment and the Minister of Transport and the lack of communication between the two ministries, we submitted our proposals to both departments. We want the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications to send a letter to the Ministry of Transport insisting that the exhaust gases be removed from "dangerous malfunctions". We asked the Ministry of Transport for three things:
1. Removal of exhaust gases from “ dangerous malfunctions“
2 The time limit for fixing a detected problem should be increased from 14 to 30 days
3. If the car does not correspond to its given eco group according to the year of production, then a lower eco group should be assigned, with the consent of the owner
- Why will the current version of the Ordinance lead to the suspension from traffic of millions of cars that cannot meet the strict criteria for gas emissions?
- In 2018, the government of GERB transposed the European Directive 2014/45/EU clearly with oversight. In the directive itself, all malfunctions related to exhaust gases are marked as “significant“ , and in the Bulgarian version of the regulation they are indicated as “dangerous“. When they are in the "dangerous" category, the car is automatically stopped from moving.
I will give an example: After a car has to pass an annual technical inspection and it is found during the inspection that there are no brakes, the owner is given the right to fix the problem within 14 days and leave the car from the point.< br /> If the car's exhaust gases do not fall within the norms set in the regulation, the car is automatically stopped from moving and the MPS must be removed from the point with repatriation equipment. He has no right to move on the streets.
- Who, how, when and what feeds have we agreed to follow?
- Until 4 weeks ago, we all thought that the European Directive 2014/45/EU of April 3, 2014 was the one that made us have such high requirements. However, it turned out to be a completely different reason. During the management of GERB in 2018, it was our state administration that introduced these high requirements in regulation H-32, which describes the methodology for passing an annual technical review. In the EU directive itself, the exhaust gas requirements are not so strict.
- Why is it that 40-year-old cars can pass technical inspection without problems, and newer cars are threatened with suspension?
- The reason is again in the regulation. When your car was manufactured before 2002, it automatically enters the first environmental group, in which the requirements for exhaust gases are lowered and all cars meet them. When they were manufactured after 2002, they have an Ecological Category, which is set by the manufacturer. It is important that readers distinguish between “environmental group” and “ ecological category“. These are two completely different things. In Art. 37 of Ordinance H-32 describes the requirements for exhaust gases. When the car was manufactured in 2015, according to documents, it comes out with the 5th or 6th ecological category and, accordingly, in the 4th ecological group, where the requirements for exhaust gases are 6 times higher than those for cars before 2002. The Ordinance states that a car that does not meet the ecological values is stopped from moving.
- What do you propose as a solution to the situation?
- We propose to remove the words (or have an impact on the environment.) in the part of Art. 37, para. 4. from the regulation in question, where the “ the dangerous“ malfunctions. This will allow, if the car does not meet the requirements, to be given a period of time to rectify the fault, rather than being stopped from driving.
The second thing we propose is to change the period of 14 days to 30 days. The reason for this change is that 14 days is too short a period to fix most possible problems, as well as the limited opportunity to bring the car into service. We are aware that even 30 days may not be enough, but also that it cannot be forever.
The third and one of the most important is the creation of a new point in the regulation, which gives the right in case of non-coverage of the eco category laid down in the car's license plate, it
the system of the Motor Vehicle Administration allows for the appointment of a lower ecological group, with the driver of the vehicle certifying that he agrees to the MPS being placed in the lower ecological group, being aware that by doing so action, its access to the central parts of the cities will be limited.
When the ordinance amendment begins, there will be between 14 and 30 days for public comment, which in turn will give all interested parties the opportunity to make their suggestions and have them discussed. We plan to hold several public events where we will gather experts, owners of inspection points, victims and give more suggestions for amendment. One of the things we will ask for is to review the entire directive 2014/45/EU from 3 April 2014 and remove the inconsistencies between our regulation and the European one.
- How much do cars really pollute?
- It is difficult for me to give an exact definition of how polluting cars are, but as an ordinary person I see every day how diesel cars emit black smoke from their exhausts. In our country, it is not encouraged to drive your vehicle on environmentally friendly fuel, such as LPG, methane or electricity. On the contrary, the regulation in question gives an advantage to diesel cars, which is an extremely strange paradox. One of the things we are working on and will continue to do is for the state to encourage car owners to choose cars that pollute extremely little.